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US issues formal complaint to Russia over response to suspected death related to lab

Photo: ABC News

The U.S. issued a formal diplomatic complaint known as a démarche over the Russian government's response to the reported death of a lab worker from an anti-plague institute in Siberia, urging the country to increase transparency surrounding the incident, ABC News has learned.

"We have officially requested additional information from the Russian government. We are also in official communication with other countries around the world to share information," a State Department spokesperson said.

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WORLDBBC News

Canada suspends plans to expand assisted dying to people with mental illness

Canada says it will indefinitely suspend plans to expand its medically assisted dying law to people whose sole condition is mental illness, citing a lack of consensus on who would be eligible. It comes after a parliamentary panel earlier this year recommended that medically assisted dying - known as Maid in Canada - should not be expanded. On Wednesday, Canada's justice minister, Sean Fraser, said that "while there is not a perfect consensus on this issue, we believe this is the correct approach at this particular time".

WORLDBBC News

Israelis demand accountability over 7 October failures three years after attacks

As the sky began to lighten over Israel's border with Gaza on Wednesday, the people of Kfar Aza moved silently towards the armoury at the centre of the kibbutz. It was there, shortly after 07:00 on 7 October 2023, that Hamas-led attackers killed half the community's 14-member civil defence squad. They were among 64 killed and 19 kidnapped from the community that day. The pain of those attacks is still fresh here. But three years on, there are questions about who else should pay the price for Israel's security failure.

WORLDBBC News

France halts use of stun grenades after boy's hand blown off in student protests

France has suspended the use of stun grenades for policing student protests that have swept the country, after a 15-year-old's hand was blown off earlier this week. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said he had requested the pause until the facts of Monday's incident in Lens had been "clarified", with conflicting accounts offered by protesters and officials. Several groups have complained of police using disproportionate force towards teenagers.